Friday, August 28, 2009

THE FRIDAY FACE-FEEDING

Our friend Gary is a Temporary Bachelor while his bride JoAnn delivers a U-Haul truck full of daughter Jennifer’s furniture and worldly goods unto her new home in Columbus, Ohio... and so we invited him to break bread with us.

It was a mini-celebration of sorts, given that the Mistress of Sarcasm had just returned home after a week on the road, performing her College Recruitment Activities to eager mobs of high schoolers in Columbus - albeit Georgia, not Ohio. A perfect excuse to tie on the feedbag... and tie it on we did.

Here da Bill of Fare:
  • Arugula and Mâche Salad with Pecorino Romano, Toasted Pine Nuts, and Shallot-Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette

  • Sliced Golden Heirloom Tomato with Home-Grown Basil, Sea Salt, and Extra-Virgin Olive Oil

  • Buttered Haricots Verts

  • Roasted Salmon Filet with Potlatch Seasoning

  • Pan-Sautéed Hanger Steak with Shallot-Merlot Reduction

  • Baked Purple Sweet Potatoes with Apricot-Ginger Relish
All of this was washed down with copious lashings of J. Lohr Estates Los Osos Paso Robles Merlot 2005. Superb.

Nicest thing about all this - aside from the eating thereof, of course - was that it took a grand total of forty minutes, end-to-end, to put it all together. Well, not exactly - I had made the apricot-ginger relish earlier in the day. But that took minimal effort.

Perhaps a nice bitter digestif before I retire for the evening: Fernet Branca or Averna. Then I can paraphrase the great C.S. Calverley:

“...That bedward-going, I may soothly say
‘Fate cannot touch me: I have dined today.’”

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